Oklahoma Favored At Home In Season Opener
Oklahoma has not played a game yet in 2026, but the Sooners open as favorites at home against UTEP with last season's Alabama loss still the last thing on tape.
How last season ended
Oklahoma sits at 0-0 with the 2026 season still ahead, so the most recent action on the books belongs to last season. The Sooners closed out 2025 with a 24-34 loss to Alabama on December 20, a defeat that came after they had already beaten the Crimson Tide once that year on the road, 23-21, back in November.
That finale capped a run through last season that also included a road win at Tennessee, 33-27, and home wins over Missouri, 17-6, and LSU, 17-13. None of that carries into the record now — last season is last season, and Oklahoma opens 2026 with a clean slate.
Recent News
Covers' aggregated injury tracker lists two Sooners running backs with questions ahead of the opener. A. Bass is Questionable with a knee injury, and whether he plays against UTEP on September 4 remains unresolved. T. Blaylock carries the same Questionable tag with a hamstring issue, and it likewise has yet to be established if he suits up for that game — both notes were reported last week, and neither is a confirmation either back will miss time.
Elsewhere, Jon Gruden Spends 48 Hours With Brent Venables' Oklahoma Sooners is the latest look at the program as it heads into the season.
Upcoming
Oklahoma opens on September 4 vs. UTEP. The Sooners are favored at Memorial Stadium, and the market's total reads as middling rather than a shootout or a defensive grind.
UTEP enters with its own clean slate at 0-0, but its last game on record was a 31-61 loss at Delaware last season, well before this year's schedule begins. That gap in results is part of why Oklahoma sits on the favored side of this opener.